A Late Night
by Vicc125
Summary: A special moment between Jaune and Yang leads to some deep thought and a big revelation. JaunexYang. Takes place after "Knock First."
1. Chapter 1

Jaune stood silently in the training room on Beacon's campus, staring down the training robot in front of him. To be more precise, he stood in a fighting stance. His shield arm was up and held in front of him while his sword arm was held back with the sword pointing vertically at the ground. His left leg was forward and half bent, with his foot pointing towards the training robot. His right leg was vertically inclined with his right foot pointing ninety degrees to the right of the direction of the robot.

It was two o'clock on a Saturday morning, but Jaune didn't care. He _would_ destroy the robot. He was the only person in the entire freshman class who hadn't bested the simple training drone. He was supposed to be a team leader! People were supposed to look up to him! Yet, all he could do was pick himself up off the ground when the drone outmaneuvered him. No, scratch that, _Pyrrah_ picked him up off the ground. It was embarrassing.

The robot shifted a bit and decided to run at Jaune. Jaune quickly lunged at the drone, making sure his shield covered his torso. The robot side stepped to Jaune's right and took the advantage by punching Jaune in the shoulder. Jaune stumbled and spun around to face the robot, only to be punched in the chest. The chest plate protected him, but it didn't stop him from falling on his butt. The robot attempted to curb stomp Jaune with his right foot, but the blonde swung his sword at the robot's left foot, effectively tripping it. He quickly got up and scurried a few feet away from the robot, and got back into his original fighting position.  
_

Sitting in the moon light at the top of the bleachers in her orange tanktop, black shorts, and furry slippers she stole from Ruby, was a tired Yang. The flirty blonde had been secretly watching Jaune since he entered the training room. She didn't know why she was here. She made an effort to keep an eye on Jaune, if only for Ruby's sake, but had no clue as to why she was still in the room. Jaune was so absorbed in his fighting that she could have slipped out unnoticed at any time, and yet she stayed. She definitely didn't find this entertaining. The same thing had been happening for hours; Jaune attacks, robot counterattacks, Jaune ends up on the floor, robot ends up on the floor, Jaune gets into fighting position, and repeat.

She was about to get up and go to bed when the room was light up in a bright white. Yang shook her head and stared down at the practice field. Jaune was completely surrounded by a white aura. _His___white aura. This fight was about to get interesting.

The robot charged Jaune, who lunged for the hundredth time that night. The robot side stepped once again and began to throw a punch with its right arm. But Jaune wasn't getting punched this time. The boy pivoted on his left foot and cut off the robot's arm in one swift move. The robot then attempted a punch with its left arm. Jaune caught the punch on his shield, and then shield bunted the drone. While the training robot stumbled, Jaune brought his sword up over his left shoulder, before wrapping up the fight by slicing the robot vertically in half. The drone fell to the floor in parts with a loud clang.

On instinct, Yang jumped up and clapped. She instantly realized her mistake and cringed when Jaune looked up at her, obviously embarrassed.

"How long have you been there?" he asked with his eyes wide open.  
"What time is it?" Yang asked, shrugging her shoulders and tilting her head.  
"I don't know? Two? Three?"  
"Then pretty much all night."  
"You've been there all night!?" Jaune asked, extremely worried.

Yang, who had made her way down the bleachers, walked up to him and smiled.

"Yup," She said.  
"Why?!"  
"I thought you needed somebody to root for you!"  
"You hate me!"  
"What makes you think that?"  
"You broke my ribs!"  
"You were peeking at my sister!"  
"I didn't know she wasn't dressed!"

Yang sighed and shook her head, "Look, I've been keeping an eye on you and I saw you leave your dorm on my way back to mine."  
"So you've been stalking me!"  
"I'm not stalking you!"  
"Then why are you following me around!"  
"Because I don't want to see you get hurt!"  
"_You broke my ribs!_"  
"GET OVER IT!" Yang's eyes began to glow with a dangerous red hue.  
"Why? Why should I? First you hurt me, now you decide that you're going to try and protect me! What's the deal?" Jaune's aura became even brighter as he became angrier.  
"I don't have a deal! I just don't want to see you in more pain!"  
"_WHY_?" Jaune asked again.

Yang said nothing, but instead, sat on the bleachers and turned her head away from Jaune.

Jaune let his aura die out and sat on the bleachers, so close to Yang that their arms were touching. He looked around the training room, while glancing at Yang every couple seconds, waiting for her to speak up. Finally, she did.

"Look, I'm confused. I thought I was watching you because of Ruby, but I don't know anymore."  
"What don't you know?" Jaune asked, just as confused.  
"Just, nothing," Yang said as stood up.

She walked to the door and opened it, but before she left the room, she turned around and looked at Jaune, with the slightest hint of red coloring her cheeks.

"By the way, you looked good during that last skirmish," She left leaving Jaune speechless.  
"Thanks," Jaune said, long after she had left.


	2. Chapter 2

"And then she just left!" Jaune exclaimed to his friend and teammate Lie Ren.  
"Maybe she was tired," Ren said with his usual stoic disposition.  
"You think so?"  
"You said she watched you fight until three, right?"  
"It was two, but yeah. She just watched me all night,"  
"And then she told you that 'you looked good'?"  
"Yeah, I guess she was impressed with me or something," Jaune said with a very confused expression.

Ren sighed and looked around the small living room of Team JNPR's dorm. He glanced at the clock; it was eleven-thirty in the morning. He should really be getting down to the training room himself for his own Saturday sparring with Nora. Then he thought of Nora and her giant hammer and shivered. Maybe listening to Jaune ramble on about his 'little moment' with Yang was the better option.

"Ren? Hello? Are you even listening anymore?"  
"Sorry Jaune, but I really have to get to the training room," Ren said with another sigh, "Nora's gonna kill me if I'm late."  
"Yes, you really don't want to end up stuck in another wall, now do you?" A gentle and musical voice spoke from behind the couch that the two boys were currently seated on.

Ren turned his head to see Pyrrah standing behind Jaune. She wore her typical outfit, but her weapons seemed to be missing, and she had a glow about her, which was pretty typical.

"Well, I'm gonna get stuck in a wall either way, with the way she fights, but it might hurt more if I'm late," Ren stood up and walked to the door, "I'll catch you guys later."

"So, what's this little problem of yours?"

"So you stalked Jaune, watched him fight, verbally sparred with him, complimented him, and then left blushing madly," Blake said to Yang as she read her book.  
"Yes! And then he didn't follow me!" Yang plopped down on Blake's bed with a huff.  
"Why would he?"  
"If a girl walks off in a hurry, you follow her! You try to stop her and talk to her! Then and only then will she speak her mind!"  
"Sounds like you just want attention," Blake said growing bored of the subject.  
"Of course I want attention!"  
"So, what? Are you in love with Jaune now?"  
"What? Of course not! Why would I like scraggly blonde Jaune with the one-piece pajamas."  
"Why do you want his attention so bad then? And what about, 'speaking your mind'?"  
"Blake! No! You," Yang shook with a mix of anger and confusion and growled.  
"Yeah thought so," Blake said with a smile.

"You're no help!" Yang said angrily as she got up and left Blake's room, slamming the door for dramatic effect. 

Blake sighed and put her book down. Walking to her dresser to pick out her clothes for the day, she thought, '_Whatever will we do with you Yang?"  
__ 

Jaune sighed as he walked around the campus of Beacon alone. He was sure that Pyrrah was trying to find him, but he didn't care. He didn't want to be found. She hadn't been much help. At first, she was nice and tried to help him with his girl problem. But after Jaune dropped Yang's name, she became cold and glared at him. He made the excuse that he needed to get something from Ruby, but ran off to prowl the grounds alone.

_I'm so confused,_ Jaune thought, _First Yang gets all weird, and then Pyrrah gets all mad. What am I supposed to do? I'm pretty sure Yang is in town. There's no point trying to find her, I'll just have to wait until she gets back. But it'll be after Pyrrah finds me and berates me for lying to her._

"Why are women so hard to understand?" Jaune exclaimed to no one as he looked at the ground.

"Perhaps because they don't understand themselves," Professor Ozpin said.

Jaune looked up to see the headmaster of Beacon before him. He stood in his normal green suit, holding his coffee cup and his cane. He simply smiled at Jaune, as if he knew all about the young man's troubles.

"Oh! Hello Professor! I'm sorry, I'm not in your way am I?"  
"Of course not Jaune, I was simply walking the grounds when I saw you and decided to intervene before walked into a tree. Or simply off the cliff."  
"Hehe, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings, was I?"  
"It would appear not."

Jaune looked back at the ground and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"So tell me, what kind of girl troubles are so frustrating that you feel the need to talk to yourself?"  
Jaune laughed and said, "Well Professor, It's kind of a long story."  
"It's the weekend, we have all the time in the world."  
"Well you see, I spent all last night in the training room, trying to beat that stupid drone."  
"Commendable."  
"And I finally did it-"  
"Well good for you."  
"Thanks, but after I destroyed it, I found out that Yang had been watching me the whole time. We argued at first, but then she got all quiet and wouldn't say anything for a couple minutes. After that, she got up and left."  
"Did she say anything before she left?"  
"Yeah, she told me that I looked good. I didn't get to thank her or even respond."

Ozpin chuckled before looking at Jaune and saying, "Well, it seems that you've got quite the admirer."  
"What?!" Jaune was both horrified and stupefied. Yang couldn't seriously like him! She liked strength and muscles! But what if she did? What would Weiss say if she knew she did? He couldn't jeopardize his relationship with the Snow Angel. He'd worked so hard just to get her to talk to him!  
"You seemed troubled?"  
"Aw man, what am I supposed to tell Weiss?"

At this, Ozpin simply laughed. He laughed and laughed for minutes until he couldn't laugh anymore. Finally, he looked at the distraught Jaune. He was serious.

"Jaune," Ozpin picked his words carefully, "If Weiss really cared about you, she'd have to accept the fact that Yang simply likes you more."  
"Really? You don't think she'd be mad?"  
"Not in the slightest."  
"Well, thank you Professor! You really gave me a new perspective on this whole thing."  
"I'm glad I could help. Now, have a good day. And please, try to keep the jokes to a minimum. Laughing at you makes my sides hurt."

And with that, he walked off leaving Jaune speechless for the second time that day. 


	3. Chapter 3

Jaune decided that the worst thing wasn't the waiting. It wasn't the hiding. It was the combination of the two. He was hiding in the tallest branches of a tree near the dorms. It really wasn't the best place to hide, but he was sure it would do. It was out of the way and he was really high up. His pursuer wouldn't think to look up. And even if she did, there was no way she would see him with all the branches shrouding his position. Right?

The pursuer in question was none other than his partner Pyrrah. Pyrrah was looking for him. Of that Jaune was sure. He had ditched the redhead nearly two hours ago. She must have seen through his excuse to find Ruby. The girl lived right across the hall for god's sake. All Pyrrah had to do was peek inside and see that he wasn't there. Then she would go on a man hunt. When Pyrrah found him, he was toast.

_That's a lot less scary than what I'm about to do, _Jaune said to himself, _Thinking Yang likes me, that's just asking to have my ribs broken again._

Jaune gulped. He really liked having his ribs in the right places. But what if Ozpin was right? Could Yang seriously like him? Did he like her? She was beautiful, that much Jaune admitted. But she was also brash and seriously hotheaded. Jaune wasn't sure if he liked that. But he did like her kindness (when she wasn't physically harming his interior structure) and her playful attitude. She really _was _kind of perfect in her own brawler like way. She was strong, fast, and very protective of her friends. Not that Jaune ever experienced that last part. The only person who ever saved his hide was Pyrrah.

_And I ditched her, _Jaune thought glumly, _That's a great way to say thanks. _

But he did it for his own safety, right? Pyrrah looked like she was going to kill him after he dropped Yang's name. Everything was so complicated. He thought he liked Weiss, but now he didn't know. Was he just being desperate, or did he really feel something for the flirty blonde. Did she even feel anything for him?

Doubt swam through Jaune's head once again. He'd never really been in this situation before. He was always the scrawny kid growing up. He'd fallen for many girls, but they never returned his affection. His father told him that one day he would grow up to be a young man, and when he did, the right person would walk into his life. He couldn't wait for that to happen. And yet, here he was, sitting in a tree avoiding his best friend and getting the butterflies over talking to someone he'd never had a problem communicating with.

_This is all Yangs' fault, _Jaune said bitterly, _If she hadn't been stalking me, this never would have happened. But still, I'm kind of happy that it did._

Jaune still had to tell Yang how he felt. He planned on it. But he had to wait for her to get home. And if Pyrrah found him before that, well, he wouldn't get the chance.

"Jaune?! Jaune are you out here? Pyrrah's looking for you!"

Jaune looked down and spotted Ruby Rose walking along the stone path. If Pyrrah sent her, then he had to stay quiet. He tried to tuck his body closer together, but the tree swayed and he froze. Ruby looked up.

"Helloooo! Jaune? It's Ruby!"

Jaune shifted his weight uneasily, trying to press his body closer into the branch he was on, fear making his mind go into a haze and forget about what he had just tried to do. The branch creaked and cracked. Jaune's eyes widened with fear as he felt the branch slowly break away from the trunk. It snapped completely and Jaune fell on to the ground, right in front of Ruby.

"Oh! I found you!" She said with enthusiasm.  
"No you didn't! Please don't tell Pyrrah!"  
"Huh?" Ruby cocked her head.  
"Didn't Pyrrah send you?" Jaune asked, still lying on the ground.  
"Nope."  
"So, why were you looking for me then?"  
"Oh you know, I was just in the neighborhood and I happened to stop by Ren."

_ He wouldn't. _Jaune thought with fear.

"And uh, what did Ren tell you?"  
"Oh he just told me you needed help with something personal."  
"Oh, well that's nice, but I think I've got it covered."

Jaune really wanted to get away. He really didn't want Ruby to know that he liked her sister. The idea of being punctured by a scythe wasn't very appealing to him.

"So, if that's all, I'll just be leaving now okay?" Jaune half asked and half stated as he started to get up.

Instead of responding, Ruby just looked at him and smiled. For some reason, Jaune didn't like that.

"Ruby?"  
Jaune got a response, but not one he liked. In the blink of an eye, Ruby whipped out her scythe and had shoved it through the hood of Jaune's hoodie. It effectively trapped him on the ground. In a mad scramble of fear, Jaune's hands went to the scythe and he tried to push it up and out of the ground but it didn't even budge. How did Ruby lug this thing around?

Speaking of Ruby, Jaune looked up to see her on her scroll a few yards away. She was talking to someone but she didn't look happy. Her face was scowled and her eyes radiated hate.

_ She knows! _Jaune thought and took a large gulp, _Well it was nice knowing me. Maybe they'll give me a decent bur-_

Jaune's train of thought was stopped when a black and red boot was pressed onto his ribs.

Half way across the campus at the airship terminal, Yang was pretty sure she heard someone scream, "No! Not my ribs!"

_Aw, some poor girl is in trouble. Why do I feel like I know who's in trouble?_

"That's what you get for liking my sister! I know what happens when people get into relationships! They forget about everyone else!"

_Man, Ruby is loud, _Yang thought as she slowly made her way to the dorms, _Wait, what's Ruby doing!_

Yang picked up the pace and bolted towards the dormitories. She was pretty sure she knew who Ruby was talking to and she had to help him. Plus, only she got to break his ribs, not even Ruby was allowed to do that!

_ Great, now I'm jealous of my own sister. Thanks hormones._


End file.
